Long Lost Friends
by Ejes
Summary: Three friends who are finally reunited after so long try to find out what happened to their other friends. Their investigation leads them to a certain corridor under the Radiant Garden Castle, and brings its share of sorrow... (KH3 Secret reports spoilers)


_**Hi! Here we go with some more slightly post KH3 things - something I'd LOVE to see being at least discussed in the future games! (and, I mean, technically it will, but I'd like at least those three to be able to reunite). In this fic, Elrena never really met the Dandelions Leaders (besides Lauriam ofc), though, which explains her behaviour at some point. Anyway, enjoy!**_

* * *

The sound of their steps echoed in the corridor. What an unusual trio they were. Had anyone seen them a couple on months ago, no one would have believed they had anything in common. He was just a teenager, after all, when they both looked very adult.

"Is it really the place?" His voice was filled with dread. He stared right in front of him, to that endless corridor with countless doors, and even though there was no one but them, he was scared.

"No, it just happens to be a corridor looking exactly like the one we were looking for, and yet it is not the one," she lashed at him. The man shook his head.

"Elrena, be nice. Please?" She sighed and took a step forward. Truth was, they were all scared. All three of them. Ventus, looking younger than ever with his big blue eyes wide open, Elrena, hiding her fear behind a mask of disdain, and Lauriam, looking equally scared and sad. She was clutching a piece of paper in her shaking hand.

"I'm just not sure I want to be here. You heard Vexen, right?"

"He's Even now."

"Fine, whatever. You heard him all the same, regardless of his name. He said the cells were empty now. Had been empty for years. We won't find anything useful here." She looked at her pink-haired friend, grabbing him by the wrist. "Lauriam, please. Let's just go. They're not here anyway."

But while Lauriam gently smiled at her, patting her head, he took a step further into the corridor, and another, and another. Ventus followed him. And there she was, left behind, standing between the truth facing her and the denial on her back. It would be so easy to just leave, pretend Even didn't say a thing. She could do it. Denial was how she coped with everything. But she stared at the two young men in front of her, and she knew she couldn't lose them once again.

The first cell was completely empty. _Duh_, she thought, but she couldn't ignore the relief in her chest. What had she expected? Dead bodies?

On the second, there was a pair of googles, old, covered in dust, and yet still recognizable. She frowned. She had known people wearing those. Children. Friends. It all became very real as she held the dusty object in the hand.

_Someone she knew had lived in there._

* * *

The corridor felt endless. They checked every cell one by one, very cautiously, not saying a word. She hated this. They wouldn't find any clue here, so why bother? Why couldn't they just force Even to say all that he knew, and use that information instead? She was sure he had not said everything.

"_There was a secret lab under the Castle. We conducted… experiments down there. On Light. I can't ever get rid of the shame of what we did. I don't even want to. But if you want to know more about these so-called Dandelions… Here's a map to find the corridor in the basement. That is where we kept them._"

They had not known what to expect, but the second they had seen the doors, they understood exactly what had happened down there. And every little accessory they could find in the rooms, every torn out plush, every ripped off fabric made it even more real, attached faces to these cold rooms. In one of the room, Elrena's heart stopped. That silly mog hat… She had known him. He wasn't in her party, but she had known him. He had been a real someone. And now he was probably gone for real. She wanted to call the boys, but something had already caught their attention. Ventus was inside a cell, so she couldn't see him, but Lauriam, facing the door, was enough an indicator of what they had found. She had never seen him so pale, so miserable. Suddenly, he was the fifteen-year-old boy who had told her there was no escaping the end of the world and that they would probably die. And suddenly she was that fifteen-year-old girl who understood that she would need to be strong for the both of them.

* * *

Ventus had sunken to his knees. He was holding a piece of red fabric, a familiar black pattern swirling on it.

"Is… Is it…" He could hear Lauriam's voice behind him, trembling, dreadful. He didn't even have the strength to answer, so instead he just nodded, showing the red piece to his friend, their hearts breaking at the same time.

"She ran away, you know."

All of a sudden, behind a mortified Lauriam, Lea and Isa were standing, looking grim.

"She?" Who said it first? Their three voices echoed at the very same time. Elrena's, confused. Lauriam's, hopeful. Ventus's, broken.

"The girl they kept here. X. I'm sorry, she never told us her name. Didn't remember it. She said this was her most precious possession, a promise a friend made to her. But in the end, she had to leave it behind."

"Who was she?" Elrena asked, hating that feeling that she was the only one not knowing what was going on.

"Our friend." Isa looked away. Elrena stopped herself from letting the spiteful comments reach her lips. She wouldn't ever have expected the man she had known as Saïx to admit he had friends.

"We came to visit her sometimes. We couldn't let her out. We tried, but we never found the key. And she wouldn't tell us exactly what happened here. So we just came as much as we could, talked with her, hoping she would give us one of her rare smiles. She didn't remember why she was here. None of the kids here knew. She kept saying we shouldn't come, that we would be in trouble if they found us out."

"But she looked happy everytime we came back."

Lea nodded, smiling at the memory. Isa looked more peaceful than Saïx ever did.

"And then, one day, she was gone," the former number seven added. "Someone had opened her door and ran off with her. No one ever knew who did this. She was one of the only kids left… This happened not long before we lost our hearts."

"Did you know her?"

"Yes. She was our friend too." Ven's voice was soft now, sad but steady. "We all got separated years ago, and we hoped that perhaps… She ran away, you say?"

"Yes. I can promise you that. She got out of here. Where to? I have no idea. Isa and I looked for her everywhere. But that only means she was smart enough to stay out of everyone's radar. I'm sure she's somewhere out there, waiting for you guys to find her. So don't give up yet, okay? And if you find her…" Lea chuckled. "Tell her we said hi."

"Of course. Let's look for her together!" Ven jumped to his feet, his hopes high, his mood improved. "And let's get out of this place. I'm going to get nightmares staying here. Elrena, Lauriam, let's go."

"We'll be there in a minute, Ven. You go on with them." The blonde boy nodded, following his two other friends, alreading exchanging theories as to where she could be.

* * *

"Elrena…"

"I know. I was thinking the exact same thing."

They both looked at this huge corridor, at every door.

"They were experimented on."

"They were prisoners."

"They were tortured."

"They were alone."

"They were scared."

"They were our friends."

A brand new fire burnt in their eyes.

"Ansem did this. Ansem hurt them."

"It is time for payback. It is time to hurt Ansem back."

"We spent years being villains anyway. Won't hurt getting back to it a bit longer."

They looked at the cells, the abandoned toys, the scratches on the walls, and they left with their head high.

Ven would find their surviving friends.

The two of them would avenge their lost ones.

* * *

**The end**

_**I wanted them to turn back to their villains selves again. They were villains for at least ten years, and I hardly expect Larxene to become nice once she gets her heart back, tbh. I think revenge would be an excellent motivation for them - and I couldn't tell them wrong. I mean, Ansem EXPERIMENTED ON CHILDREN, WHY IS EVERYONE SO OK WITH THAT? (quite frankly all the RG crew worked on it and while I love them dearly, guys, that's far from being ok no matter the perspective...)**_

_**By the way, if you're reading A Star in the Dark, the fic isn't cancelled, I'm just really slow at writing it. Feeling bad I posted it so early, I should have waited for it to be complete before posting it. **_

_**And starting next week, I'll be taking part in the Terraqua week, so look forward to it! :D**_


End file.
